Iceland enjoying finals chance

Iceland were the surprise qualifiers for the UEFA European Under-17 Championship and although they are the only one of the eight teams in Belgium now unable to reach the semi-finals, the island nation are just delighted to be involved.

Rollercoaster ride
An extraordinary 6-5 defeat of holders Russia with four goals from Kolbeinn Sigthórsson in their Portugal-hosted Elite round group took Iceland through to a UEFA final tournament for the first time in a decade. However, not only were they missing Sigthórsson through a hip problem for their Group B opener against England, but within 24 minutes they were 2-0 down and had lost goalkeeper Trausti Sigurbjörnsson to a tournament-ending head injury.

'Big experience'
But they did not fall further behind, and although a Sigthórsson-bolstered Iceland went down 3-0 to the Netherlands in Ronse on Friday and now can only aim for a fifth-place play-off slot, coach Luka Kostic is upbeat. "This is a big experience for us," Kostic told uefa.com. "Two months ago we were in Portugal, and I thought the teams here would be at the same level but they are better. We deserve to be here, we are glad to be here and we are learning very fast."

Improvement
In particular, he was delighted with the improvement between the two matches, Iceland ultimately unlucky to lose by three. "When you compare the first game to the second game we have already taken a big step up," Kostic said. "We had a much better game, we didn't create a lot of goal chances but we had a lot of attacks and it was very promising from my team."

Einarsson's enjoyment
Captain Eggert Rafn Einarsson, whose side has been cheered on by an enthusastic group of parents and fans in Belgium, has been a crucial part of their superb season and is enjoying every minute. "It has been great," he said. "It is a big opportunity for us, a little country." And it has given the squad an unexpected trip together. "It's great to be with them. It's been mostly sleeping and training! But on Saturday we went to Gent, to relax."

World Cup chance
A win against hosts Belgium on Monday would mean Iceland would be one play-off away from a ticket to the FIFA U-17 World Cup in Korea Republic, and Kostic says his players will give their all, even though their domestic season has not even yet begun. "We have improved in the first two games," the coach said. "I am very pleased about the feeling and to see they are still progressing. We are not a big nation, only 300,000 people, and our season has not started."